Hougang MRT Station
| other=Bus, Taxi | structure=Underground | platform=Island | depth= | levels=2 | tracks=2 | parking= | bicycle= | baggage_check= | passengers= | pass_year= | pass_percent= | pass_system= | opened=20 June 2003 | closed= | rebuilt= | electrified= | ADA=Yes | code= | owned= | operator=SBS Transit | zone=4 | former= }} Hougang MRT Station is an underground station on the North East Line in Singapore. It is located in the central part of Hougang New Town which is connected to the bus interchange and surrounding HDB flats and shopping centres. This station has distinctive artwork titled Hands Up for Hougang by Seck Yok Ying, featuring handprints of 3000 people, from babies to grandmothers, foreign workers to community leaders. Before the station opened, the Singapore Civil Defence Force conducted the second ever Shelter Open House on 15–16 February 2003, together with Chinatown, Farrer Park and Serangoon. History Bomb hoax Liu Tze Yuen, 42, a Chinese man was behind the Hougang bomb hoax which disrupted train services for hours on August 12, 2005. He was also accused of putting boxes in public buses on July 7 and August 12 – the latter on the same day he was accused of carrying out the hoax at Hougang. On July 7, he was said to have placed a white package in a bus that he was travelling in. He did it at about noon on Service 151 as he was travelling along Hougang Avenue 3. Tacked on the package was a note which said: 'If you see it, please don't touch and leave this bus.' More than a month later, on August 12, he allegedly left another package wrapped heavily with scotch tape on Service 143 while he was travelling along Eu Tong Sen Street in Chinatown. He was said to have done it at about 1:30 pm – an hour after he allegedly left a similar package at Hougang. The package was found to have only empty food cans and empty packets of instant noodles. Liu allegedly intended the passengers on the two buses and the train station to believe that the packages contained explosive devices and was later sentenced to 3½ years in jail. On April 2, 2017, an unattended bag caused NEL services to skip this station. SBS Transit announced that all trains on the North-East Line were skipping Hougang MRT station due to a "security incident" in a tweet at 2.55 pm. Police who were called in subsequently said nothing suspicious was found in the unattended bag at the station. Commuters were turned away from the MRT station before it was shuttered at about 3.45 pm. After the all clear was given, services resumed at 4.07 pm and the train station was re-opened shortly after. Station layout Exits Passenger Usage Patterns Serving the Hougang town centre area along with nearby commercial developments, community amenities, and large numbers of residential developments, Hougang station encounters high demand throughout the day. Transport connections Rail References External links * Official website Category:Hougang Category:Railway stations opened in 2003 Category:Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore) stations